loan (n.)

A LINGUISTIC UNIT (usually a LEXICAL ITEM) which has come to be used in a LANGUAGE or DIALECT other than the one where it originated. Several types of loan process have been recognized, such as loan words (where both FORM and MEANING are borrowed, or ‘assimilated’, with some adaptation to the PHONOLOGICAL system of the new language, e.g. sputnik); loan blends (where the meaning is borrowed, but only part of the form, e.g. restaurant with a simulated French ending ; loan shifts (where the meaning is borrowed, and the form is native, e.g. restaurant as ); and loan translations (where the MORPHEMES in the borrowed word are translated item by item, e.g. superman from Übermensch – also known as a CALQUE). The study of how languages adapt foreign words within their PHONOLOGICAL systems is known as loan phonology.